Another entry in our Reflections of the Fall series:

A 19 year old girl named Hannah Cohen was returning home from Memphis after receiving cancer treatment at St. Jude’s Medical Center. She was approached by a TSA agent after she set off the metal detector.

“They wanted to do further scanning, she was reluctant, she didn’t understand what they were about to do,” said her mother Shirley Cohen.

Cohen told us she tried to tell TSA agents her daughter is partially deaf, blind in one eye, paralyzed, and easily confused, but said she was kept at a distance by police.

“She’s trying to get away from them but in the next instant, one of them had her down on the ground and hit her head on the floor. There was blood everywhere,” said Cohen.

You can read more here: http://wreg.com/2016/06/30/disabled-st-jude-patient-sues-airport-and-tsa-after-bloody-scuffle-with-airport-police/

This is sad on many levels. Of course it is unfortunate that Islamic terrorism has been on the rise. Events like the tragedy of 9-11 have necessitated enhanced security at airports. To some extent, scuffles like this are the price we have to pay for security.

Also, there has been a lot of violence, perhaps one could even say an epidemic of violence, on the part of law enforcement in our country. This is but one of a sickening number of cases where we have seen misunderstandings escalate into brutality. A few that pop to mind are the killing of a beloved family pet as the police raided the wrong house, the killing of an autistic child who had threatened his grandmother, and the paralysis inflicted on a foreigner who didn’t understand when police asked him to stop.

As Christians we must try to reflect Christ’s light into the world. We pray for God’s aid to those who need it in these situations. We should be in solidarity with those who are victims, and do whatever we can to raise awareness and call our leaders to account. We should try to do our part to change things for the better.